SARASOTA, Fla. – (July 27, 2012) – Sarasota Memorial Hospital was one of just two hospitals – out of more than 4,000 nationwide – singled out for demonstrating the lowest (best) readmission rates in the nation for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients.

Newly-released data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted on the government’s Hospital Compare website reveals mortality and re-admission rates for more than 4,600 hospitals nationwide. The data shows how often patients died or were readmitted within 30 days of discharge from a previous hospital stay for heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia.

Sarasota Memorial was one of only two hospitals in the nation to perform well-above the national average in all three readmission categories studied. The data, which covers a three-year period from July 2008 to June 2011, was posted this month on CMS’ Hospital Compare website; an analysis this week by Kaiser Health News spotlighted Sarasota Memorial and Citrus Memorial Hospital (Inverness, FL) as the only two hospitals in the nation that had better than average readmission rates for all three conditions.

According to the Kaiser study, only 1 percent of hospitals were labeled as better than average in heart attack (30 hospitals) or pneumonia cases (33 hospitals) and only 2 percent (94 hospitals) were labeled as better than average in heart failure.

The study, based on the most recent Medicare data available, showed that:
• 19.7 percent of heart attack patients were readmitted within 30 days of discharge
• 24.7 percent of heart failure patients were readmitted
• 18.5 percent of pneumonia patients were readmitted

In comparison, readmission rates at Sarasota Memorial were 16.2 percent for heart attacks, 19.7 percent for heart failure and 15.6 percent for pneumonia. Sarasota Memorial also scored well on mortality rates for each of the three conditions.

The rates are all “risk-adjusted” — which means they take into account how sick patients were, to make sure hospitals of different sizes and with different patient populations can be compared fairly.

“Of all the achievements Sarasota Memorial has earned in recent years, we’re particularly proud of our low readmission rates,” said Sarasota Memorial CEO Gwen MacKenzie. “We have many quality goals, but among the most critical are reducing readmissions, complications and mortality.

“Achieving such low readmission rates is a tribute to everyone on our health care team and the continuum of care they provide. It means that we’re following up and communicating well with our patients, their families and each other to make sure everyone is on the same page, that everyone understands our patients’ diagnoses, their medications, their plans of care and how to care for themselves once they leave the hospital.”